LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 
the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

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and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


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in  2012  with  funding  from 

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http://www.archive.org/details/personalreminiscOOstim 


Personal  Reminiscences 
of 

Abraham  Lincoln 


PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES 

OF 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


BY 

SMITH  STIMMEL 

A  Member  of  The  Union  Light  Guard,  personal  escort  of 

President  Lincoln 

President  of  Dakota  Territorial  Council  1889 

Past  Judge  Advocate  General  and 
Patriotic  Instructor  of  the  National  G.A.R. 


With  Introduction  by 
ELL  TORRANCE 

Commander-in-Chief  of 
The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  1 901-1902 


MINNEAPOLIS 

WILLIAM  H.  ML  ADAMS 

1928 


COPYRIGHT,  1928,  BY  WILLIAM  H.  M.  ADAMS 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


THIS  FIRST  EDITION  PRINTED  AND  BOUND  AT  THE 
RIVERSIDE  PRESS  IN  CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
U.S.A.,  IS  LIMITED  TO  FIVE  HUNDRED  NUMBERED 
COPIES 

THIS  IS  NO.  I  f-?.  . 


Introduction 

PERSONAL  Reminiscences  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  by  the  Honorable  Smith  Stim- 
mel,  constitute  a  real,  valuable,  and  most  inter- 
esting addition  to  all  that  has  been  written 
relating  to  the  life  and  character  of  the  great 
American. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Stim- 
mel  was  a  student  in  the  public  schools  of  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio,  after  which  he  entered  the  Ohio 
Wesleyan  University.  In  1863  he  was  honored 
by  being  selected  as  one  of  a  Company  of  one 
hundred  men,  to  be  known  as  the  Lincoln  Body- 
guard, with  headquarters  near  the  White  House 
in  Washington.  This  brought  Sergeant  Stimmel 
in  almost  daily  observation  of  the  President,  and 
furnished  an  opportunity  for  a  study  of  Lincoln 
that  fell  to  the  lot  of  but  few. 

The  Reminiscences  are  largely  personal  and 
original,  and  reveal  Abraham  Lincoln  at  close 
range  and  in  his  everyday  life.  They  are  given 

v 


Introduction 

in  a  style  so  simple  and  genuine  that  the  reader 
will  feel  that  he  is  in  the  very  presence  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  he  will  be  so  interested  in  the  story 
that  the  end  will  be  reached  entirely  too  soon. 

Ell  Torrance 

Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic  i 901-1902 

Minneapolis,  Minnesota 
January  1,  1928 


Contents 

I.  Lincoln  at  Columbus  i 

II.  Lincoln's  Mounted  Bodyguard  13 

HI.  The  President's  Family  33 

IV.  Official  Life  and  Public  Receptions  41 

V.  The  Fort  Stevens  Fight  53 

VI.  Second  Inaugural  Address  67 

VII.  Fall  of  Richmond  and  Surrender  of 

Lee  73 

VIII.  Lincoln's  Assassination  83 

IX.  The  Human  Lincoln  93 


I 

Lincoln  at  Columbus 


I 

Lincoln  at  Columbus 

THE  first  time  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
and  hearing  Abraham  Lincoln  was  at  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio,  during  the  month  of  February, 
1 86 1 ,  when  on  his  way  from  his  home  in  Illinois 
to  Washington  to  assume  the  office  and  duties 
of  the  Presidency.  Everybody  along  the  route 
had  a  great  desire  to  see  Lincoln.  The  coming 
of  a  President  of  the  United  States  would  natu- 
rally attract  great  attention  at  any  time,  but  in 
this  instance  the  interest  was  peculiar. 

Previous  to  his  nomination  to  the  Presidency 
the  summer  before,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  compara- 
tively a  new  man  in  national  politics.  Some 
years  before  he  had  served  one  term  in  Congress, 
but  from  that  he  had  dropped  back  into  private 
life,  and  was  not  much  heard  of  again  outside  of 
his  own  State,  until  he  challenged  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  to  meet  him  in  joint  debate  upon  the 
issues  of  the  day  in  a  State  campaign  in  Illinois 
in  1858,  at  which  time  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr. 

3 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

Douglas  were  competing  candidates  for  the 
United  States  Senate.  That  debate  attracted 
general  attention  throughout  the  country,  but 
even  then  there  were  so  many  conflicting  stories 
as  to  just  what  kind  of  man  Lincoln  was,  that 
the  people  had  a  very  vague  idea  concerning  him. 
Mr.  Douglas  was  a  well-known  public  character, 
a  United  States  Senator  from  Illinois,  a  noted 
stump  speaker,  a  ready  debater,  and  one  of  the 
national  leaders  of  the  Democratic  Party  at  that 
time.  But  who  was  this  man  Lincoln,  lately 
sprung  into  public  notice  —  rated  by  some  of  the 
opposition  of  that  day  as  "  a  third-rate  country 
lawyer,  an  uncouth  ignoramus'' — who  would 
dare  to  challenge  and  meet  in  debate  on  the  great 
issues  of  the  day  their  "Little  Giant,"  as  Mr. 
Douglas's  friends  were  pleased  to  style  him  ? 
Suffice  it  to  say,  Lincoln  sustained  himself  so  well 
in  that  memorable  debate  that  it  had  much  to 
do  with  making  him  the  Republican  nominee 
for  the  Presidency  two  years  later. 

The  Presidential  campaign  of  1 8  6  o  was  a  very 
exciting  and  intensely  interesting  one,  in  which 

4 


Abraham  Lincoln 

everybody,  including  the  children  in  the  public 
schools,  seemed  to  take  an  active  part.  The  dis- 
cussions upon  the  issues  of  the  campaign  were 
warm  and  enthusiastic  everywhere.  On  all  oc- 
casions, in  season  and  out  of  season,  wherever 
two  or  three  of  opposite  politics  chanced  to 
meet,  in  church,  at  camp-meeting,  on  the  pub- 
lic highway,  even  sometimes  at  funerals,  a  lively 
discussion  of  the  issues  or  of  the  relative  merits 
of  the  candidates  was  sure  to  spring  up. 

There  were  a  number  of  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  field  that  year,  of  whom  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Mr.  Douglas  were  the  two  leading 
ones.  The  cartoonists  had  their  inning  then  as 
they  have  now.  The  peculiar  characteristics  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  made  him  a  splendid  subject  for 
the  cartoonists.  His  long  arms  and  legs,  his  lean- 
ness of  flesh,  his  big  nose  and  mouth,  and  his 
disheveled  hair  were  distinguishing  features  for 
the  exaggerations  of  the  cartoonists.  The  oppo- 
sition labored  to  make  him  appear  ridiculous, 
but  the  friendly  cartoonists  were  equal  to  the 
emergency,  and  often  turned  these  striking  char- 

5 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

acteristics  to  his  advantage,  and  put  them  in  such 
form  as  to  give  him  great  favor  with  the  people. 

Among  other  things  Lincoln  was  known  as 
the  "  Rail  Splitter  Candidate,"  because  in  his 
young  manhood  he  had  helped  to  split  some 
rails  that  were  used  to  fence  his  father's  little 
farm.  But  there  was  one  feature  of  his  character 
that  was  brought  out,  which,  next  to  his  states- 
manlike ability,  was  made  more  prominent  by 
his  friends  than  any  other,  and  that  was  his  hon- 
esty. "  Honest  Abe  Lincoln  "  became  household 
words ;  not  a  syllable  of  reflection  could  be  urged 
against  his  integrity  by  his  bitterest  antago- 
nists. 

After  such  a  campaign  and  such  a  presentation 
of  candidates,  it  is  easy  to  understand  the  intense 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  see  the  win- 
ner in  that  great  battle  of  the  giants,  the  man  of 
whom  they  had  heard  so  much,  and  of  whom 
they  had  previously  known  so  little. 

So  it  was  arranged  by  the  committee  having 
in  charge  the  train  that  conveyed  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  his  family  to  Washington  to  make  generous 

6 


Abraham  Lincoln 

stops  at  central  points  along  the  way,  in  order 
that  as  many  as  possible  might  see  and  hear  him. 
Columbus  was  one  of  those  points.  I  was  then  a 
lad  well  up  in  my  teens,  attending  one  of  the 
public  schools  in  that  city.  The  schools  of  the 
city  were  all  dismissed  and  given  a  holiday  the 
day  Lincoln  was  to  be  there.  There  would  be  no 
use  trying  to  keep  children  in  school  the  day 
Lincoln  was  to  be  in  town. 

I  was  with  the  crowd  that  gathered  at  the 
station  to  see  his  train  come  in.  While  waiting 
for  his  train,  I  heard  some  one  in  the  crowd  re- 
mark that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  probably  be  in  the 
rear  car,  and  would  be  apt  to  come  out  of  the 
rear  end  of  that  car.  I  took  the  hint  and  edged 
my  way  through  the  crowd  to  about  where  I 
thought  the  rear  car  would  be  when  the  train 
stopped.  Sure  enough,  when  the  train  pulled  in, 
about  two  o'clock,  I  was  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
rear  end  of  the  rear  car.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
reception  committee  with  their  distinguished 
guest  appeared  upon  the  rear  platform,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln towering  head  and  shoulders  above  them 

7 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

all.  He  did  not  need  to  be  introduced ;  everybody 
knew  him  when  they  saw  him.  The  shouts  of  the 
multitude  and  the  waving  of  hats  and  handker- 
chiefs were  great.  He  stood  for  a  few  minutes, 
smiling  and  bowing  to  the  people;  but  the  deep 
care-worn  lines  in  his  tired-looking  face  were 
very  marked,  and  were  the  subject  of  remark 
by  every  one  who  was  close  enough  to  observe 
them. 

Lincoln  was  then  conducted  to  an  open  car- 
riage near  by,  and  the  procession  moved  down 
the  broad  avenue  leading  to  the  Capitol  where 
he  was  to  speak.  The  procession  was  long,  and 
filled  the  street  from  curb  to  curb.  Along  the 
route  every  doorway  and  window  and  the  tops  of 
buildings  were  crowded  with  people  eager  to  get 
a  glimpse  of  Lincoln.  In  order  that  the  people 
might  get  a  better  view  of  him,  the  committee 
in  charge  induced  him  to  stand  up  as  the  carriage 
moved  slowly  along,  and  with  uncovered  head 
he  remained  standing  until  they  reached  the 
Capitol  grounds,  bowing  modestly  to  the  people 
right  and  left  as  he  passed  along,  while  the  people 

8 


Abraham  Lincoln 

shouted  a  glad  and  joyous  welcome  to  their 
chosen  chief. 

Boy  like,  I  worked  my  way  as  near  to  the  head 
of  the  procession  as  possible,  that  I  might  see 
Mr.  Lincoln  every  step  of  the  way  and  get  as 
near  where  he  was  to  speak  as  possible,  in  order 
to  hear  what  he  had  to  say.  He  spoke  from  the 
western  steps  of  the  Capitol.  His  speech  was 
necessarily  brief,  but  there  was  one  expression, 
characteristic  of  the  man,  which  so  impressed 
me  at  the  time  that  I  have  never  forgotten  it.  In 
the  course  of  his  remarks  he  said,  "  I  hope  that 
if  my  worthy  competitor,  Judge  Douglas,  had 
been  elected  and  were  here  in  my  place  at  this 
time,  you  would  be  extending  to  him  the  same 
cordial  greeting  you  are  now  giving  me."  Boy 
as  I  was,  when  I  heard  those  generous  words  fall 
from  his  lips,  my  stock  in  Abraham  Lincoln  — 
already  of  high  estimate  —  went  up  about  five 
hundred  per  cent.  In  the  midst  of  the  honors 
shown  him  he  did  not  forget  his  competitor, 
though  of  a  different  political  faith.  Not  a  word 
reflecting  upon  the  political  status  of  any  indi- 

9 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

vidual  or  party  fell  from  his  lips  that  day.  The 
tenor  of  his  remarks  was  to  the  effect  that  his 
mission  was  to  serve  all  the  people  of  the  whole 
nation,  and  not  a  part  only. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  it  was  an- 
nounced that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  take  his  stand 
on  one  of  the  grand  stairways  in  the  rotunda 
of  the  Capitol,  and  that  the  people,  by  passing 
through  the  broad  doorway  in  front  and  out  at 
the  other  side,  would  be  able  to  get  a  nearer  view 
of  the  President-elect,  and  he  would  be  glad  to 
see  them,  for  the  concourse  of  people  was  so 
great  that  thousands  could  not  get  within  hear- 
ing distance  when  he  spoke.  Again  I  was  in  line 
with  the  procession  to  get  another  view  of 
the  great  man.  I  remember  how  at  the  time  I 
thought  he  was  the  greatest  man  I  had  ever  seen. 

To  see  Lincoln  was  to  feel  closely  drawn  to 
him.  His  personal  appearance  and  his  manner, 
so  perfectly  natural,  absolutely  free  from  any- 
thing like  ostentation,  and  yet  so  manly,  made 
every  one  feel  instinctively  that  he  was  preemi- 
nently a  man  of  the  people.  There  was  an  air  of 

io 


Abraham  Lincoln 

freedom  and  good  humor  in  all  that  was  said  and 
done.  It  was  an  occasion  for  many  humorous  and 
jocular  remarks.  As  the  great  crowd  passed  by, 
every  one  seemed  to  feel  good-natured  and  had 
something  amusing  to  say.  Some  would  wave  a 
hand  at  him  and  call  out,  "  How  are  you,  Abe? " 
and  other  similar  expressions  of  familiarity ;  and 
he  would  wave  his  big  hand  back  with  a  gener- 
ous smile,  indicating  that  he  appreciated  the 
good  fellowship  manifested  toward  him.  In  my 
mind's  eye  I  can  see  his  tall  form,  as  he  stood  on 
that  stairway,  with  his  big  bony  hands  resting 
upon  the  marble  balustrade. 

While  at  the  Capitol  that  afternoon,  Mr. 
Lincoln  appeared  before  a  joint  session  of  the 
legislature,  where  he  made  a  short  speech.  That 
evening  he  attended  a  reception  held  in  his 
honor,  and  the  next  morning  he  left  Columbus 
en  route  for  Pittsburgh. 

The  dark  cloud  that  hung  so  threateningly 
over  this  nation  at  that  time  soon  burst  forth  in 
all  its  fury.  It  is  necessary  to  recall  the  magnitude 
of  the  Civil  War,  the  disadvantages  under  which 

1 1 


Abraham  Lincoln 

it  was  carried  on  by  the  Government  during  the 
first  two  years,  our  total  lack  of  preparation  — 
no  army  and  no  navy  worthy  of  the  names,  no 
money  in  the  Treasury  and  practically  no  credit, 
a  strong  opposition  in  the  North  and  an  organ- 
ized armed  foe  in  the  South  —  to  be  able  to  real- 
ize in  some  measure  the  needed  wisdom  and  sa- 
gacity on  the  part  of  the  man  upon  whom  the 
great  burden  of  that  awful  responsibility  rested. 
The  American  people  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude 
to  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln  that  they 
can  never  pay,  for  I  verily  believe,  the  fact  that 
we  are  a  united  people  to-day  is,  under  God,  due 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  marvelous  wisdom  and  sagacity 
in  directing  the  affairs  of  State  during  those  per- 
ilous times. 


II 

Lincoln's  Mounted  Bodyguard 


II 

Lincoln's  Mounted  Bodyguard 

THE  cavalry  troop  which  was  assigned  to 
duty  as  President  Lincoln's  bodyguard,  of 
which  I  had  the  honor  to  be  a  member,  was 
organized  by  Governor  David  Tod  of  Ohio  in 
1863.  During  that  summer,  a  very  critical  pe- 
riod of  the  war,  Governor  Tod  had  occasion  to 
visit  Washington,  and  when  he  called  at  the 
White  House,  he  became  impressed  with  the 
idea  that  the  President  was  not  sufficiently  pro- 
tected. It  was  well  known  that  there  were  many 
Confederate  sympathizers  in  Washington  at  that 
time,  some  of  them  very  bitter  toward  the  North, 
and  especially  toward  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  account 
of  his  strong  determination  to  save  the  Union. 
Acting  upon  the  idea  of  making  provision  for 
the  better  protection  of  the  President,  Governor 
Tod  applied  to  the  Secretary  of  War  for,  and 
received,  permission  to  organize  a  troop  of  cav- 
alry of  one  hundred  men,  to  be  assigned  to  duty 
as  the  President's  Mounted  Bodyguard. 

l5 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

There  were  eighty-eight  counties  in  Ohio, 
and  to  give  each  county  in  the  State  a  representa- 
tion in  such  a  troop,  the  Governor  addressed  a 
circular  letter  to  each  of  the  military  commit- 
tees of  the  several  counties  in  the  State,  asking 
them  to  send  in  the  name  of  a  man  they  would 
recommend  to  become  a  member  of  a  cavalry 
troop  "for  highly  honorable  and  strictly  confi- 
dential service,,,  as  he  put  it,  but  did  not  state 
what  that  service  was  to  be. 

I  had  already  served  a  three  months'  term  in 
the  army,  but  at  that  time  was  at  my  home  on 
the  farm  near  Columbus.  I  was  contemplating 
entering  the  service  again,  when  my  attention 
was  called  to  the  Governor's  letter,  and  I  was 
asked  if  I  was  willing  to  enter  that  service.  I  told 
them  that  I  was,  if  the  Governor  would  accept 
me.  One  of  the  members  of  the  Military  Com- 
mittee of  our  county  was  a  near  neighbor  ot 
ours.  He  gave  me  a  letter  of  recommendation, 
which  I  took  and  presented  to  the  Governor  in 
person,  and  was  accepted. 

It  was  a  troop  of  splendid  men.  Most  of  them 

16 


Abraham  Lincoln 

had,  like  myself,  been  in  the  service  before. 
Some  of  them  carried  wounds  they  had  received 
in  action.  Some  of  them  had  been  commissioned 
officers  in  their  former  service,  captains  and  lieu- 
tenants, and  one  of  them  had  been  a  major. 

When  the  organization  had  been  completed, 
we  were  all  supplied  with  black  horses,  and  sent 
to  Washington  and  placed  on  duty  at  the  White 
House.  Governor  Tod  named  the  Company, 
"The  Union  Light  Guard."  Our  duties  were  to 
guard  the  front  entrance  to  the  White  House 
grounds,  and  to  act  as  an  escort  to  the  President, 
whenever  he  went  out  in  his  carriage  or  on  horse- 
back, as  he  often  did  during  the  summer,  but 
not  much  during  the  winter  months. 

Those  who  may  be  familiar  with  the  situa- 
tion of  the  White  House  know  that  it  fronts 
north  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  and  that  it  sets 
back  some  little  distance  from  the  street.  There 
are  two  gateways,  one  on  the  east  and  one  on 
the  west,  which  open  from  the  avenue  to  a  semi- 
circular driveway  leading  to  the  front  door  of 
the  White  House.  Two  mounted  guards  were 

l7 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

stationed  at  each  of  these  gates.  These  guards 
were  always  under  the  immediate  command  of 
a  non-commissioned  officer  —  a  sergeant  or  a 
corporal  —  and  his  post,  when  on  such  duty, 
was  dismounted  at  the  front  door  of  the  White 
House.  While  dismounted,  his  horse  was  tied  to 
a  hitching  place  connected  with  the  large  por- 
tico over  the  front  entrance.  I  was  a  sergeant, 
and,  when  on  duty,  my  post  was  at  that  place. 
Of  course  these  guards  served  by  reliefs  in  regu- 
lar military  fashion. 

In  addition  to  our  mounted  guard,  there  was 
an  infantry  company,  detailed  from  a  Pennsyl- 
vania regiment  of  "Bucktails,"  as  they  were 
called,  because  they  all  wore  bucktails  in  their 
hats.  This  infantry  company  guarded  the  south 
side  and  east  and  west  ends  of  the  White  House. 

We  enjoyed  our  summer  work  much  more 
than  we  did  the  winter  guard  duty.  During  the 
hot  summer  months  the  President  made  his 
home  out  at  the  Soldiers'  Home  north  of  the 
city,  and  a  little  beyond  the  city  limits,  on  a 
slightly  elevated  plat  of  ground,  well  shaded  by 

1 8 


Abraham  Lincoln 

a  beautiful  grove.  There  was  a  modest  two-story 
brick  dwelling  connected  with  the  Soldiers' 
Home  property,  which  was  set  apart  for  the 
President's  summer  quarters.  It  was  a  pleasant 
country  place,  where  the  President  could  get  a 
good  night's  rest,  which  he  very  much  needed; 
but  that  was  about  all  the  comfort  he  got  out  of 
it.  Our  company  furnished  him  an  escort  out  in 
the  evening  and  back  to  the  White  House  in  the 
morning.  We  had  tents  out  there  in  the  grove 
for  our  sleeping  quarters. 

This  part  of  the  service  gave  us  an  opportu- 
nity to  see  a  good  deal  of  the  everyday  life  of  the 
President,  as  he  appeared  in  his  everyday  clothes, 
when  off  duty,  so  to  speak.  He  was  never  really 
off  duty,  but  it  was  a  time  when  he  could  relax 
a  little.  Often  during  the  early  part  of  the  even- 
ing, after  he  had  had  his  evening  meal,  he 
would  take  a  stroll  down  along  the  edge  of 
the  grove  where  our  tents  were  pitched,  and 
have  a  little  chat  with  the  Lieutenant  in  com- 
mand, and  sometimes  he  would  look  into  the 
men's  tents,  and  have  a  passing  word  with  them, 

19 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

asking  them  if  they  were  comfortably  fixed,  or 
something  of  that  kind.  We  always  felt  that  the 
President  took  a  personal  interest  in  us.  He  never 
spoke  absent-mindedly,  but  talked  to  the  men  as 
if  he  were  thinking  of  them. 

As  already  stated,  Lincoln  was  very  tall,  stand- 
ing about  six  feet  four  inches  in  his  stocking- 
feet  ;  spare  of  flesh ;  large  bones  and  strong  frame ; 
dark  complexion ;  big  hands  and  feet ;  large,  ex- 
pressive mouth;  large,  well-formed  nose;  pro- 
minent cheek-bones;  black,  coarse  hair;  eyes  of 
a  blueish  gray,  rather  deep-sunken,  and  of  sad 
expression  when  at  repose,  but  when  animated 
with  something  of  special  interest,  they  would 
light  up  with  special  brilliancy. 

President  Lincoln  was  not  very  careful  about 
the  style  and  fit  of  his  everyday  clothes,  and  evi- 
dently his  everyday  suit  was  not  made  to  order, 
for  his  arms  always  seemed  too  long  for  his  coat- 
sleeves  and  his  legs  too  long  for  his  trousers. 
His  summer  coat  was  usually  a  cheap,  black 
alpaca,  which  hung  quite  loosely  upon  him.  He 
wore  an  old-fashioned  stovepipe  silk  hat,  which 

20 


Abraham  Lincoln 

showed  that  it  had  seen  considerable  service.  It 
had  several  dents  in  it,  and  the  fur  or  nap  was 
usually  rubbed  the  wrong  way. 

I  often  wondered  why  the  fur  on  the  Presi- 
dent's hat  was  generally  so  mussed  up,  and  finally 
I  had  an  opportunity  to  see  what  caused  it  — at 
least  in  part.  One  evening,  when  we  were  going 
with  the  President  out  to  his  summer  home,  we 
met  an  army  officer  on  horseback  in  full-dress 
uniform,  bright  and  new,  sash  and  shining  belt, 
and  a  well-adjusted  military  hat  with  a  bright 
gold  cord  on  it.  His  horse  was  rigged  out  with 
all  the  trappings  belonging  to  an  officer  of  rank 
and  in  keeping  with  the  rider.  As  he  approached 
us,  he  recognized  the  man  in  the  carriage  as  the 
President,  and  raised  his  hat  with  all  the  grace 
and  dignity  that  only  a  trained  military  man  can. 
The  President  was  busy  looking  over  some  pa- 
pers as  he  rode  along,  and  did  not  notice  that  he 
was  being  saluted  by  an  officer,  until  he  was  al- 
most past,  when  he  glanced  up  and  saw  the  lifted 
hat.  He  threw  up  his  long  arm  and  knocked  off 
his  tall  hat,  and  then  tumbled  it  back  on  his  head, 

21 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

and  brought  his  big  hand  down  on  the  crown  to 
press  it  firmly  in  place.  That  was  his  return  sa- 
lute, and  it  was  easy  to  see  what  rubbed  up  the 
fur  on  that  hat.  But  I  don't  want  you  to  get  the 
idea  that  President  Lincoln  always  saluted  that 
way.  That  was  a  hurry-up  salute.  It  was  his  busi- 
ness to  get  that  hat  off  quickly,  and  the  quickest 
way  he  could  get  it  off  was  to  knock  it  off. 

But  I  had  occasion  to  know  that  the  President 
could  give  a  graceful  salute.  My  mount  was  a 
handsome  black  mare,  but  one  of  the  most  vi- 
cious animals  I  ever  saw;  and  although  I  had 
gotten  her  under  fairly  good  control,  every  once 
in  a  while  she  would  take  a  tantrum,  and  at  such 
times  it  was  a  fight  to  the  finish  between  her  and 
me.  One  morning,  while  we  were  coming  in 
with  the  President  from  his  summer  home,  and 
just  as  we  left  the  home  grounds  and  turned  into 
the  street  leading  into  the  city,  she  started  on  one 
of  her  tantrums.  It  was  a  little  down  grade  at 
that  point.  There  had  been  a  shower  of  rain  that 
morning  before  starting,  just  enough  to  make  it 
slippery.   The  coachman  was  pushing  on  the 

22 


Abraham  Lincoln 

reins  and  was  going  down  grade  at  pretty  good 
speed.  I  noticed  that  my  mare  was  feeling  a  lit- 
tle frisky  and  seemed  to  enjoy  the  time  we  were 
making,  when  suddenly  she  lunged  forward  and 
started  down  the  street  on  a  dead  run.  She  fairly 
flew  past  the  President's  carriage.  I  was  doing 
my  best  to  check  her;  the  large  army  bridle  bits 
we  used  were  severe  enough  to  almost  break  a 
horse's  jaw,  and,  although  I  made  the  blood  run 
from  her  mouth  in  a  stream,  it  seemed  to  make 
no  impression  in  the  way  of  checking  her.  She 
ran  like  mad,  and  I  began  to  feel  that  for  once 
I  had  lost  control  of  her.  I  was  afraid  that,  as  we 
got  down  the  street  where  there  were  more  ve- 
hicles and  pedestrians,  she  would  run  into  some- 
body and  do  some  great  damage  —  possibly  kill 
some  one;  and  for  a  moment  I  thought  I  would 
be  under  the  necessity  of  pulling  my  revolver 
and  shooting  her  in  the  back  of  the  head  to  stop 
her. 

There  was  a  double  track  of  old-fashioned  flat 
street-car  rails  on  the  street,  such  as  were  in  use 
in  those  days  of  horse-cars,  and,  while  thoughts 

23 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

were  flashing  through  my  mind  as  to  what  I 
should  do  to  stop  the  brute,  in  her  mad  flight  she 
took  a  diagonal  course  across  the  street,  and  those 
flat  rails  being  wet  and  slippery,  she  slipped  and, 
with  a  tremendous  slide,  fell  and  struck  the 
ground  with  an  awful  thud.  When  her  body 
struck  Mother  Earth,  she  stopped.  It  almost 
knocked  the  breath  out  of  her  when  she  went 
down,  but  I  stayed  in  the  saddle,  with  both  of  my 
feet  touching  the  ground.  She  lay  there  only  long 
enough  to  catch  her  breath,  and  then  jumped  up, 
taking  me  with  her.  She  gave  her  head  an  angry 
shake,  but  her  tantrum  was  over  —  she  had  had 
enough  for  that  time.  I  turned  her  about  and 
went  back  to  join  the  escort. 

As  I  approached  the  President's  carriage,  I 
saluted  the  President,  as  was  our  custom  when- 
ever meeting  him;  and  in  return,  he  lifted  his 
hat  in  the  most  exquisite  manner,  and  bowed 
with  a  gracious  smile.  So  I  happened  to  know 
that  the  President  could  give  a  graceful  salute. 
Of  course  that  salute  was  given  somewhat  as 
a  fatherly  pat  on  the  back,  as  much  as  to  say, 

24 


Abraham  Lincoln 

"  Young  man,  I  am  glad  to  see  you  come  out  on 
top  in  that  fracas";  for  he  had  seen  that  mare 
take  tantrums  before,  but  possibly  not  quite  so 
bad. 

An  amusing  little  incident  occurred  out  at 
the  Soldiers'  Home  one  evening,  which  we  al- 
ways called  "The  Pigtail  Story."  Our  duties, 
of  course,  were  principally  guard  duties,  and  if 
there  is  any  one  thing  that  becomes  more  irk- 
some than  another  to  the  average  soldier,  it  is 
continuous  guard  duty.  Under  it  soldiers  are  lia- 
ble to  become  restless  and  sometimes  fractious, 
especially  when  there  are  stirring  times  at  the 
front. 

There  came  a  time  during  the  early  summer 
of  1 864  when  the  men  of  our  Company  became 
very  restless.  There  were  reports  of  great  activ- 
ity at  the  front,  and  we  longed  to  be  in  it.  So  one 
evening,  when  the  President  was  strolling  near 
the  men's  tents,  emboldened  by  his  kindly  man- 
ner, one  of  the  men  took  it  upon  himself  to  ap- 
proach him  in  regard  to  the  matter  of  a  change 
of  service,  stating  in  substance  that  the  men  felt 

25 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

that  they  were  not  needed  where  they  were,  and 
that  there  was  greater  need  of  their  services  at 
the  front. 

The  President  listened  patiently  to  all  the  man 
had  to  say,  and  then  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye 
said,  "Well,  my  boy,  that  reminds  me  of  an  old 
farmer  friend  of  mine  in  Illinois,  who  used  to  say 
he  never  could  understand  why  the  Lord  put  a 
curl  in  a  pig's  tail;  it  did  not  seem  to  him  to  be 
either  useful  or  ornamental,  but  he  guessed  the 
Lord  knew  what  he  was  doing  when  he  put  it 
there.  I  do  not  myself,"  he  said,  "see  the  neces- 
sity of  having  soldiers  traipsing  around  after  me 
wherever  I  go,  but  Stanton  "  —  referring  to  Sec- 
retary of  War  Stanton  —  "  who  knows  a  great 
deal  more  about  such  things  than  I  do,  seems  to 
think  it  is  necessary,  and  he  may  be  right;  and 
if  it  is  necessary  to  have  soldiers  here,  it  might 
as  well  be  you  as  some  one  else.  If  you  were  sent 
to  the  front,  some  one  would  have  to  come  from 
the  front  to  take  your  place."  Then,  in  a  tone  of 
mild  rebuke,  he  added,  "  It  is  a  soldier's  duty  to 
obey  orders  without  question,  and  in  doing  that 

26 


Abraham  Lincoln 

you  can  serve  your  country  as  faithfully  here  as 
at  the  front,  and,"  said  he,  with  another  smile, 
"  I  reckon  it  is  not  quite  as  dangerous  here  as  it 
is  there."  And  with  a  gentle  wave  of  his  hand, 
he  passed  on. 

The  other  boys  had  the  laugh  on  the  good  fel- 
low's brave  effort  to  get  to  the  front,  but  you  can 
rest  assured  that  no  other  member  of  that  Com- 
pany ever  ventured  to  carry  any  further  com- 
plaints to  the  President  about  their  service. 

President  Lincoln  was  as  indifferent  concern- 
ing his  livery  outfit  as  he  was  about  his  everyday 
clothes.  The  carriage  he  used  for  everyday  pur- 
poses was  about  on  a  par  with  the  average  street 
hack,  and  his  coach  team  was  a  pair  of  what  any- 
body would  call  very  common  horses ;  but  he 
had  a  barouche  that  was  used  on  state  occasions 
that  was  a  pretty  respectable  vehicle.  He  did  not 
have  a  saddle  horse  of  his  own  at  all,  and  when  he 
wished  to  go  out  on  horseback,  as  he  sometimes 
did,  he  would  send  word  to  our  quarters  that 
when  we  came,  to  bring  with  us  a  saddle  horse 
for  him,  and  we  would  rig  up  one  of  our  Com- 

27 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

pany  horses  for  his  use.  We  had  in  the  Company 
a  long-legged,  high-headed  horse  that  was  pretty 
well  gaited  and  fairly  well  suited  for  the  Presi- 
dent's equestrian  figure;  and  because  of  that 
horse's  tail  and  angular  make-up,  the  boys  called 
him  "  Abe,"  after  the  President.  Our  greatest 
difficulty  was  in  getting  stirrup-straps  adjusted  for 
the  President.  We  would  let  them  out  to  the  end 
hole,  and  then  he  would  have  to  kink  up  his  legs 
to  get  his  feet  in  the  stirrups.  When  he  mounted 
that  horse,  with  his  tall  hat  extending  high  in 
the  air,  he  was  indeed  an  interesting  figure.  We 
enjoyed  seeing  him  on  his  "  high  horse,"  as  we 
used  to  say.  He  was  a  good  rider,  however,  and 
if  he  had  had  a  saddle  horse  of  his  own,  properly 
equipped,  with  stirrup-straps  of  the  right  length, 
I  am  sure  he  could  have  held  his  own  with  the 
best  riders. 

President  Lincoln  seemed  to  be  absolutely  de- 
void of  every  thing  in  the  nature  of  self-conscious 
pride  in  his  position  as  President  of  the  United 
States.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  fully  realized 
the  responsibility  attached  to  his  high  office,  but 

28 


Abraham  Lincoln 

his  profound  sense  of  duty  overshadowed  all 
sense  of  official  pride.  Any  onewho  has  ever  been 
much  in  the  presence  of  men  of  high  rank  know 
how  common  it  is  for  them  to  put  on  the  air  of 
official  importance,  and  often  the  smaller  the  offi- 
cial, the  more  important  the  air.  While  I  never 
saw  President  Lincoln  belittle  the  dignity  of  his 
office,  there  was  no  official  austerity  about  him. 
He  seemed  at  all  times  the  perfection  of  natural 
manhood.  This  was  manifest,  both  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  official  duties  and  in  the  little 
everyday  incidents  that  occurred  from  time  to 
time. 

One  morning,  when  the  President  was  com- 
ing in  from  his  summer  home  on  horseback,  he 
and  the  Lieutenant  in  command  of  the  escort 
were  riding  side  by  side,  the  escort  following  in 
the  rear.  Between  the  grounds  of  the  Soldiers' 
Home  and  the  built-up  portion  of  the  city  at 
that  time  was  unoccupied  land  —  city  commons 
—  on  which,  some  two  or  three  blocks  away, 
some  cows  were  grazing.  Suddenly  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Lieutenant  turned  their  horses  and 

29 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

went  cantering  over  to  where  those  cows  were. 
Of  course  we  followed.  The  President  rode  in 
among  the  cows,  and,  pointing  to  one  of  them 
with  his  long,  bony  linger  said,  "You  see,  just 
as  I  told  you."  I  was  unable  to  catch  what  it  was 
that  he  wanted  the  Lieutenant  to  see.  The  Lieu- 
tenant said,  "  Yes,  I  see  you  are  right,"  and  hav- 
ing convinced  the  Lieutenant  of  the  correctness 
of  his  statement,  they  turned  about  and  started 
off  on  a  canter  to  the  White  House. 

As  we  rode  along,  I  wondered  what  was  the 
occasion  of  the  President's  turning  aside  to  go 
over  and  inspect  those  bony-looking  cows.  When 
we  had  left  the  President  at  the  White  House 
and  gone  to  our  quarters,  I  said  to  the  Lieuten- 
ant, "  What  was  the  occasion  for  the  cow  inspec- 
tion on  the  way  in  this  morning?"  He  laughed 
and  said,  "As  we  were  coming  along,  the  con- 
versation turned  upon  the  peculiar  structure  of 
the  cow,  and  the  President  remarked  that  the 
cow  is  a  lop-sided  animal,  that  is,  one  side  is 
higher  than  the  other.  I  said  no,  that  I  never  no- 
ticed that  one  side  of  a  cow  is  higher  than  the 

3° 


Abraham  Lincoln 

other.  '  Well,  it  is/  said  the  President,  and  when 
he  saw  those  cows  feeding  over  on  the  commons, 
he  said, '  We  will  just  go  over  to  those  cows  yon- 
der, and  I  will  show  you  that  I  am  right  about 
that!"' 

At  that  time  I  thought,  what  a  strange  thing 
that  the  President  of  the  United  States,  with  a 
giant  war  on  his  hands,  a  man  who  during  the 
day  would  be  receiving  and  sending  dispatches 
concerning  the  movements  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  and  would  be  in  consultation  with  Cabi- 
net officials  and  military  officers  of  high  rank, 
could  have  his  attention  diverted  to  the  lop-sided 
structure  of  a  cow,  and  take  the  time  to  turn 
aside  to  go  over  and  convince  that  little  Lieuten- 
ant that  one  side  of  a  cow  was  higher  than  the 
other!  But  in  later  years  I  came  to  recognize 
that  very  commonplace  element  in  his  make-up 
as  a  mark  of  his  greatness.  It  showed  the  disci- 
pline and  poise  of  his  great  mind.  Under  the 
great  strain  and  burden  of  his  official  life,  during 
those  strenuous  times,  he  greatly  needed  some 
diversion.  There  was  no  chance  for  him  to  go 

31 


Abraham  Lincoln 

fishing  or  duck-hunting,  or  hunting  for  bear  — 
and  I  do  not  mean  to  reflect  upon  the  Presi- 
dent who  takes  a  vacation  when  he  can,  for  the 
office  of  the  Presidency  is  a  strenuous  one.  But 
there  was  no  vacation  for  Lincoln,  and  he  knew 
enough  to  avail  himself  of  such  opportunities  as 
his  mornings  and  evenings  gave  him  away  from 
the  Executive  Office  for  a  little  diversion,  how- 
ever trifling  it  might  seem,  as  a  little  relief  from 
the  stress  and  burden  of  official  duties  —  and  that 
is  all  that  it  meant  to  him. 


Ill 


The  President's  Family 


Ill 

The  President's  Family 

NO  man  was  ever  more  devoted  to  his  fam- 
ily than  was  President  Lincoln. 

Only  two  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  boys  were  living 
when  our  troop  went  on  duty  as  his  bodyguard 
in  1 863,  Robert,  the  oldest,  and  Thomas,  com- 
monly called  "Tad,"  the  youngest.  Robert  was 
graduated  from  Harvard  in  the  summer  of '64. 
I  remember  seeing  him  soon  after  his  gradua- 
tion. He  was  then  given  a  Captain's  commission 
and  assigned  to  duty  on  General  Grant's  staff, 
where  he  served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He 
came  down  to  our  quarters  after  his  appointment, 
and  made  a  brief  call  at  the  Captain's  tent.  He 
presented  quite  a  fine  appearance  in  his  new  uni- 
form. 

Tad  was  a  lively  little  chap  and  full  of  mis- 
chief. He  often  came  down  to  our  quarters  to 
call  on  our  officers,  and  they  seemed  to  enjoy  his 
visits  very  much.  He  lisped  somewhat,  and  the 
boys  used  to  enjoy  hearing  him  talk.  He  would 

35 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

chatter  away  about  something,  and  until  you  got 
used  to  him,  it  was  hard  to  tell  what  he  was  talk- 
ing about.  When  he  referred  to  his  father,  he 
always  called  him  "Papa-day."  We  were  told 
that  on  one  occasion  he  got  his  father  to  sign  his 
name  on  a  blank  piece  of  paper,  and  then  Tad 
wrote  above  the  signature  an  order  for  the  use  of 
the  Marine  Band,  a  band  that  was  subject  only 
to  the  President's  order.  Then  Tad  assembled 
all  the  colored  people  he  could  muster  in  the  city 
of  Washington  for  a  parade,  and,  led  by  the 
Marine  Band  and  Tad  on  his  pony,  the  big  pa- 
rade marched  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  I  do  not 
know  whether  this  was  true  or  not,  but  it  would 
be  just  like  him. 

Mrs.  Lincoln  was  very  different  in  her  make- 
up from  her  husband,  but  they  seemed  to  be  very 
congenial  to  each  other.  She  was  an  interesting 
little  woman,  full  of  life  and  activity,  and  took 
great  interest  in  her  husband's  welfare.  During 
the  summer  and  fall  months  she  often  rode  out 
with  him  to  and  from  their  summer  home,  and 
on  other  occasions.  When  the  weather  was  a 

36 


Abraham  Lincoln 

little  chilly,  the  President  wore  a  man's  gray 
shawl  over  his  shoulders,  and  as  they  got  into 
their  carriage  I  have  often  seen  her  adjust  the 
shawl  about  his  shoulders  in  an  affectionate 
manner. 

An  incident  which  brought  out  an  expression 
of  the  President's  tender  feeling  for  his  children 
was  the  burning  of  the  White  House  stables. 

One  evening  in  the  month  of  February,  1 864, 
while  on  duty  at  the  front  door  of  the  White 
House,  I  heard  an  alarm  of  fire.  I  looked  around 
in  different  directions  to  see  if  I  could  discover 
any  indication  of  fire  in  that  vicinity.  In  a  mo- 
ment or  two  I  saw  a  flicker  of  light  around  to 
the  east  and  south  of  the  building.  It  seemed  to 
come  from  somewhere  between  the  south  end 
of  the  Treasury  Building  and  the  White  House, 
where  the  White  House  stable  was  located  at 
that  time.  I  was  debating  in  my  mind  for  the 
moment  as  to  whether  or  not  I  ought  to  go  and 
try  to  render  some  assistance  (there  was  nothing 
in  my  instructions  as  to  my  duties  that  would 
forbid  my  doing  so,  if  I  thought  best),  but  about 

37 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

the  time  I  located  the  fire,  I  heard  the  fire  de- 
partment coming,  and  I  concluded  they  could 
fight  a  fire  better  than  I  could,  and  that  I  had 
better  stay  where  I  was. 

Just  then  the  front  door  of  the  White  House 
flew  open  with  a  jerk,  and  out  came  the  Presi- 
dent buttoning  his  coat  around  him,  and  said  to 
me, "  Where  is  the  fire,  what's  burning  ? "  I  said, 
"  It  seems  to  be  around  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
stable.,,  With  that  he  started  off  on  a  dog-trot 
down  the  steps  and  along  the  way  leading  to 
the  stable.  When  he  started  to  go  to  the  fire,  I 
thought  to  myself,  "Old  fellow,  you  are  the 
man  we  are  guarding,  guess  I'll  go  along."  So 
I  struck  out  on  the  double-quick  and  went  with 
him,  keeping  close  to  his  side;  but  he  took  such 
long  strides  that  his  dog-trot  was  almost  a  dead 
run  for  me. 

As  soon  as  we  got  around  where  we  could  see 
what  was  burning,  we  saw  that,  sure  enough, 
the  White  House  stable  was  on  fire.  Quite  a 
crowd  had  gathered  by  the  time  we  got  there, 
and  the  fire  department  was  at  work.  Mr.  Lin- 

38 


Abraham  Lincoln 

coin  asked  hastily  if  the  horses  had  been  taken 
out,  and  when  told  they  had  not,  he  rushed 
through  the  crowd  and  began  to  break  open  one 
of  the  large  doors  with  his  own  hands;  but  the 
building  was  full  of  fire,  and  none  of  the  horses 
could  be  saved.  The  ponies  belonging  to  the  lit- 
tle boys  and  the  goats  were  all  lost  in  the  fire.  It 
was  a  brick  stable,  and  evidently  had  been  burn- 
ing for  some  time  before  it  was  discovered. 

The  Captain  and  some  of  the  men  from  our 
Company,  quartered  a  little  way  south  of  that 
point,  appeared  on  the  scene,  and  the  Captain, 
in  company  with  a  dignified  gentleman  whom  I 
did  not  know,  seeing  the  President  in  the  crowd, 
stepped  up  to  him;  and  I  heard  the  strange  gen- 
tleman say  to  him,  "  Mr.  President,  this  is  no 
place  for  you,"  and,  slipping  his  arm  through 
the  President's  arm,  walked  with  him  back  to 
the  White  House.  I  accompanied  them  back 
and  took  my  place  at  the  front  door. 

The  President  seemed  very  much  grieved  on 
account  of  the  fire  for  some  reason,  and  when 
we  came  to  find  out  why  he  felt  so  badly  about 

39 


Abraham  Lincoln 

it  (for  I  was  told  he  actually  wept),  we  found  it 
was  on  account  of  the  loss  of  one  of  the  ponies 
that  had  belonged  to  his  son  Willie,  who  had 
died  at  the  White  House  two  years  before.  The 
loss  of  the  pony  brought  back  anew  the  sorrow 
he  had  experienced  in  the  taking  away  of  his 
little  son. 


IV 

Official  Life  and  Public 
Receptions 


IV 

Official  Life  and  Public 
Receptions 

IN  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties  Mr. 
Lincoln  displayed  much  the  same  plain  and 
simple  manner  that  he  did  in  the  common  every- 
day walks  of  life.  He  was  laborious  and  pains- 
taking, giving  much  attention  to  minor  details. 
He  evidently  retired  late  at  night  and  rose  early 
in  the  morning.  At  times,  when  there  was  con- 
siderable activity  at  the  front,  it  was  a  common 
thing  to  see  him  going  alone  from  the  White 
House  to  the  War  Department  late  at  night, 
sometimes  as  late  as  midnight,  and  again  early 
the  next  morning.  At  that  time  there  was  quite 
a  space  between  the  White  House  and  the  War 
Department  on  the  west  end  of  the  same  block, 
a  distance  of  about  half  an  ordinary  city  block  or 
more.  The  passageway,  paved  with  brick,  was 
along  the  north  side  of  a  brick  wall  about  four  or 
five  feet  high,  densely  shaded  by  the  trees  in  the 
park  through  which  the  pathway  led,  and  was 

43 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

dimly  lighted  by  a  few  flickering  gas  jets  —  that 
was  before  the  days  of  electric  lights. 

On  the  trial  of  the  conspirators  who  plotted 
his  assassination,  it  was  brought  out  that  they 
knew  about  his  habits  of  going  to  the  War  De- 
partment alone  late  at  night,  and  that  at  one 
time  they  had  planned  to  abduct  him  by  seizing 
him  on  a  dark  night  while  in  the  shadow  of  the 
park,  between  the  White  House  and  the  War 
Department,  lifting  him  over  the  brick  wall, 
and  hurrying  him  across  the  Treasury  park  south 
of  the  White  House  to  a  vacant  house  near  the 
Potomac  River,  where  he  could  be  concealed  in 
the  cellar  until  he  could  be  taken  across  the  river 
and  turned  over  as  a  prisoner  to  the  Confed- 
erates. There  are  those  who  think  this  scheme 
was  practical  and  could  have  been  carried  out, 
but  I  doubt  it  very  much.  In  the  first  place,  the 
captors  would  have  had  the  President's  great 
physical  powers  to  contend  with,  and  again,  any 
demonstration  of  that  kind  would  have  been 
in  close  proximity  to  the  guards  at  the  White 
House,  and  would  have  brought  them  quickly 

44 


Abraham  Lincoln 

to  his  rescue.  They  might  have  killed  him,  but 
I  do  not  believe  they  could  have  seized  him  and 
carried  him  away  alive. 

The  President's  public  receptions  were  the 
times  to  see  him  looking  his  best.  When  he  was 
well  groomed  and  had  on  his  best  clothes,  he 
presented  quite  a  fine  appearance.  When  not  on 
duty,  it  was  our  privilege  to  attend  his  public  re- 
ceptions, if  we  wished  to  do  so.  In  those  days 
public  officials  and  the  elite  of  society  were  not 
quite  as  sensitive  as  they  seem  to  be  in  some 
places  nowadays  about  the  presence  of  a  com- 
mon soldier  wearing  a  soldier's  uniform.  I  must 
confess,  however,  that  the  first  time  I  attended 
one  of  the  President's  receptions,  I  experienced 
a  good  deal  of  timidity  about  it. 

One  evening  three  or  four  of  us  boys  con- 
cluded we  would  slick  up  and  take  in  the  Pre-r 
sident's  reception — see  what  it  was  like.  We 
stood  in  the  anteroom  quite  a  while  watching 
the  dignitaries  pass  in  before  we  could  make  up 
our  minds  to  venture  into  the  presence  of  the 
President.  That  was  before  we  had  our  sum- 

45 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

mer  experience  with  him.  The  Cabinet  Minis- 
ters, the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Senators 
and  Congressmen,  foreign  Ambassadors  in  their 
dazzling  uniforms,  all  accompanied  by  their 
wives,  Army  and  Navy  officers  of  high  rank,  and 
the  wealth  and  aristocracy  of  the  city,  all  in  full 
evening  dress,  were  there.  Naturally  we  boys  in 
the  garb  of  the  common  soldier  felt  a  little  timid 
in  the  presence  of  such  an  assemblage. 

We  stood  talking  for  a  while  with  the  door- 
keeper, whom  we  had  come  to  know.  When 
one  of  the  boys  expressed  some  reluctance  about 
going  in,  the  doorkeeper  said,  "  Go  on  in ;  he 
would  sooner  see  you  boys  than  all  the  rest  of 
these  people."  So  we  plucked  up  courage  and 
went  in.  The  President  gave  us  a  cordial  shake 
of  the  hand;  we  bowed  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  and 
others,  and  passed  on  into  the  large  East  Room 
with  the  rest  of  the  common  people.  At  first  it 
was  a  little  like  taking  a  cold  bath  when  the 
water  is  a  little  extra  chilly;  but  the  first  douse 
took  off  all  the  chill,  and  after  that  we  felt  quite 
at  home  among  them. 

46 


Abraham  Lincoln 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  present  at  the  Presi- 
dent's reception,  given  on  the  evening  of  the  8th 
of  March,  1864,  when  General  Grant  first  put 
in  his  appearance  at  Washington,  after  his  ap- 
pointment as  Lieutenant-General  giving  him 
command  of  the  entire  Army.  The  President 
and  General  Grant  had  never  met  before  that 
time.  It  was  not  generally  known  that  General 
Grant  was  expected  to  be  there  that  evening.  I 
was  standing  near  the  doorway  leading  from  the 
President's  reception  room  to  the  large  East 
Room,  when  General  Grant,  with  his  Chief  of 
Staff,  General  Rawlins,  and  Secretary  of  State 
William  H.  Seward,  came  in  a  little  late.  Gen- 
eral Grant  had  come  in  on  the  evening  train. 

From  what  we  had  seen  of  the  General's  pic- 
ture in  Harper  s  Weekly  and  other  pictorial  pa- 
pers, it  was  easy  to  recognize  him  as  soon  as  we 
saw  him;  a  man  of  medium  height,  square- 
shouldered,  blocky  build,  brown  beard  closely 
trimmed,  square,  firm-set  jaws ;  a  kind  and  genial 
eye,  looking  the  man  of  iron  that  he  was,  with 
a  good  big  heart. 

47 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

The  President  quickly  recognized  the  Gen- 
eral as  he  entered  the  reception  room,  and,  with- 
out waiting  to  have  him  formally  presented, 
stepped  forward,  and  taking  him  by  the  hand 
gave  it  a  regular  old-fashioned  pump-handle 
shake,  saying  as  he  did  so,  "  How  are  you,  Gen- 
eral Grant?  Iamgiadtoseeyou.,,  Then,  throw- 
ing his  left  arm  about  the  General's  shoulders, 
drew  him  closely  to  himself,  and,  leaning  over, 
said  something  to  him  that  the  others  near  by 
did  not  hear. 

General  Grant  had  lots  of  good  fighting  met- 
tle in  him,  but  I  have  often  thought  how  such  a 
reception  as  that  by  the  President  would  add  to 
the  fighting  qualities  of  a  man  like  Grant. 

The  word  soon  passed  around  that  General 
Grant  was  present,  and  then  there  was  a  great 
press  of  the  crowd  toward  the  President's  room, 
and  a  craning  of  necks  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the 
great  General ;  so  much  so  that  the  General  and 
Secretary  Seward  could  not  pass  into  the  East 
Room.  There  happened  to  be  a  number  of  our 
Company  present  at  that  time ;  some  had  just 

48 


Abraham  Lincoln 

passed  in  before  the  General  appeared,  and  some 
were  still  in  the  anteroom,  as  we  did  not  presume 
to  go  in  until  after  we  supposed  the  dignitaries 
had  all  passed  in. 

At  the  suggestion  of  some  one,  the  men  from 
our  troop  who  were  present  formed  a  wedge- 
shaped  angle.  With  General  Grant  and  Secre- 
tary Seward  in  the  angle,  we  forced  a  way 
through  the  crowd  across  the  East  Room  to  the 
east  side,  where  there  was  a  sofa.  Seward  and 
Grant  stepped  upon  the  sofa,  and  Seward  intro- 
duced the  General  to  the  crowd,  and  by  dint  of 
effort  we  got  the  throng  started  passing  in  re- 
view; and  after  a  general  hand-shake  by  those 
who  were  near  where  the  General  stood,  the 
President  and  Mrs.  Lincoln,  with  others  who 
were  receiving  with  them  that  evening,  appeared 
in  the  East  Room,  and  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  on 
General  Grant's  arm,  while  the  President  and 
others  coupled  up,  all  started  off  on  a  grand  pa- 
rade around  the  room,  thus  giving  everybody 
present  an  opportunity  to  get  a  good  look  at  the 
coming  hero  of  the  War,  while  the  Marine  Band 

49 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

played,  with  much  expression,  "Hail  to  the 
Chief." 

This  was  one  of  those  dress  parade  occasions 
I  have  already  mentioned.  The  contrast  between 
General  Grant's  uniform  and  that  worn  by  other 
military  officers  present  that  evening  was  very 
marked.  The  buttons  on  his  coat  were  placed 
in  the  order  of  a  Major-General's  uniform,  and 
the  shoulder  straps  bore  the  Major-General's 
stars,  but  the  coat  was  badly  faded  from  exposure 
and  camp  usage,  and  the  buttons  and  shoulder 
straps  were  dingy  with  the  smoke  and  dust  and 
dirt  of  the  field. 

I  mean  no  reflection  upon  those  who  had  nice 
clean  uniforms  to  wear  on  such  an  occasion.  I 
have  no  doubt  but  General  Grant  would  have 
put  on  a  new  suit  that  evening,  if  he  had  had  one, 
but  history  tells  us  that  he  went  into  the  Vicks- 
burg  campaign  with  only  one  suit  of  clothes,  a 
change  of  shirts,  and  a  toothbrush ;  that  that  was 
all  the  baggage  he  carried  during  that  campaign, 
and  it  would  seem  that  he  did  not  have  much 
more  than  that  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  until 

5° 


Abraham  Lincoln 

after  he  was  made  Lieutenant-General.  When 
he  was  called  to  Washington,  upon  receiving 
his  appointment,  he  came  direct  from  the  field, 
probably  wearing  the  only  military  suit  he  had. 


V 
The  Fort  Stevens  Fight 


V 
The  Fort  Stevens  Fight 

THE  only  battle  President  Lincoln  saw  dur- 
ing the  War  was  a  little  fight  that  took 
place  at  Fort  Stevens,  one  of  the  defenses  of 
Washington,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  12th  of 
July,  1864. 

During  the  early  part  of  July,  Confederate 
General  Jubal  Early  made  a  raid  up  into  Mary- 
land with  about  twenty  thousand  men.  At  first 
it  appeared  as  though  he  intended  to  attack  Bal- 
timore, but  he  suddenly  turned  toward  Wash- 
ington, and  on  the  1 1  th  of  July  was  immediately 
in  front  of  Fort  Stevens,  about  six  or  eight  miles 
north  of  the  city. 

At  that  time  every  man  that  could  be  spared 
from  the  defenses  of  Washington  had  been  sent 
to  the  front,  and  only  a  few  men  had  been  left 
in  the  defenses  of  the  Capital.  General  Lew 
Wallace,  with  a  small  force,  threw  himself  in 
front  of  Early's  approach  and  delayed  his  ad- 

55 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

vance  somewhat,  but  he  could  do  nothing  more 
with  the  small  force  at  his  command. 

The  nth  of  July  was  an  anxious  day  for  the 
President,  and  for  all  who  knew  the  situation. 
During  the  afternoon  of  that  day  the  President 
drove  out  along  the  line  of  some  of  the  forts  on 
the  north  to  investigate  the  condition  of  things 
for  himself.  I  was  with  the  escort  that  accom- 
panied him  on  his  rounds  that  day,  and  it  looked 
to  me  as  though  the  chances  for  a  scrap  were 
mighty  good.  I  did  not  see  why  the  Confeder- 
ates did  not  make  an  attack  then.  Our  pickets  and 
the  Confederate  pickets  were  firing  on  each  other 
more  or  less  all  the  time  we  were  there.  Where- 
ever  a  Union  picket  would  see  a  Confederate 
head  stick  up,  he  would  shoot  at  it,  and  vice  versa, 
the  Johnnies  would  bang  away  whenever  they 
sawanythingtoshootat.  Theforts  were  mounted 
with  heavy  guns,  calculated  to  do  destructive 
work,  but  were  manned  with  only  a  few  men, 
many  of  them  invalids,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
if  Early  had  made  a  dash  that  afternoon  he  could 
have  broken  through  our  lines  and  taken  the 

56 


Abraham  Lincoln 

city.  He  would  have  suffered  considerably  in 
doing  so,  and  while  he  could  not  have  held  the 
city,  he  could  have  done  a  great  deal  of  damage 
and  gained  some  prestige  in  favor  of  the  Confed- 
erate cause.  But  he  probably  did  not  think  it 
wise  to  attempt  such  a  hazardous  undertaking. 

Meanwhile  Grant  had  sent  the  Sixth  Army 
Corps  and  part  of  the  Nineteenth  from  Fortress 
Monroe  on  transports  up  the  Potomac  River  to 
the  relief  of  Washington,  in  all  about  six  thou- 
sand men,  under  command  of  General  Wright. 
A  small  portion  of  these  reinforcements  reached 
Washington  the  evening  before  the  main  body, 
which  did  not  reach  Washington  before  the 
morning  of  the  1 2th.  The  President  went  down 
to  the  wharf  to  meet  them  in  the  morning,  to 
cheer  them  by  his  presence.  As  soon  as  they 
could  be  disembarked  and  given  something  to 
eat,  they  marched  out  to  the  scene  of  action. 
There  was  a  general  feeling  that  there  would  be 
righting  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Stevens  that  day. 

Immediately  after  dinner  we  were  ordered 
out  to  go  with  the  President.  We  did  not  know 

57 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

where  we  were  going,  but  we  felt  pretty  certain 
that  he  was  going  out  to  see  the  fight,  and  we 
were  mighty  glad  to  go  with  him.  Sure  enough, 
he  made  a  bee  line  for  Fort  Stevens,  about  as  fast 
as  the  old  coach  horses  could  take  him,  and  ar- 
rived before  the  whole  of  the  Sixth  Corps  got 
there.  On  arriving  at  the  Fort,  the  President 
left  his  carriage  and  took  his  position  behind  the 
earthworks  of  the  Fort,  which  left  us  at  liberty 
for  the  time  being  to  put  in  the  time  as  we  saw 
fit. 

To  the  east  of  Fort  Stevens  was  Fort  Slocum. 
In  front  of  these  forts  was  a  valley  of  lowland, 
possibly  a  mile  wide  or  more.  On  the  rise  on  the 
north  side  of  the  valley  there  was  a  fringe  of 
timber,  some  places  heavy  and  some  places  thin 
and  scattering.  Early's  forces  were  intrenched  in 
and  behind  that  timber.  From  the  Fort  we  could 
see  here  and  there  small  squads  of  Johnnies  in 
open  spaces,  and  once  in  a  while  an  officer  on 
horseback  galloping  from  point  to  point. 

The  troops  under  General  Wright  marched 
down  into  the  valley  in  front  of  the  forts,  enter- 

58 


Abraham  Lincoln 

ing  the  valley  east  of  Fort  Slocum  and  came 
down  in  front  of  the  forts  westward,  until  their 
left  flank  rested  immediately  in  front  of  Fort 
Stevens,  forming  a  line  of  battle  in  front  of  the 
forts,  and  there  they  lay  down  in  the  grass  await- 
ing orders. 

In  order  to  get  a  better  view  of  the  field,  I 
gave  the  reins  of  my  horse  to  one  of  the  men  of 
the  escort  to  hold,  and  went  around  to  the  front 
of  one  end  of  the  Fort,  and  sat  down  upon  a  large 
limb  of  the  abatis  in  front  of  the  earthworks  of 
the  Fort.*  I  was  where  I  could  get  a  good  view 
of  the  field,  and  at  the  same  time  was  within 
hearing  distance  of  our  bugle  call,  when  it  should 

*  For  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  the  con- 
struction of  such  fortifications,  I  will  say  that  usually  in  front  of 
such  earthworks  there  are  good-sized  trees  cut  and  drawn  up 
with  the  stump  end  against  the  embankment  of  earth,  with  the 
top  end  extending  out  and  the  limbs  trimmed  and  sharpened  to 
sharp  points.  These  bristling  points  extend  along  the  entire 
front  of  the  fort.  Outside  of  this  abatis,  as  it  is  called,  was  a  deep 
ditch,  from  which  the  dirt  was  taken  to  build  the  fort,  so  that  in 
case  of  an  assault  by  the  enemy,  it  would  be  difficult  to  charge 
over  that  ditch  and  against  the  abatis,  and  while  the  enemy 
would  be  making  its  way  over  the  ditch  and  through  the  abatis, 
the  men  in  the  forts  are  supposed  to  make  it  warm  for  the  fellows 
making  the  assault. 

59 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

be  given.  While  sitting  there,  I  heard  something 
crack  among  the  dry  brush  near  me,  and  I  looked 
around  to  see  what  it  was,  but  could  not  see  any- 
thing. Presently  I  heard  another  snap  in  the 
brush  on  the  other  side,  and  I  looked  in  that 
direction,  but  did  not  see  anything.  I  thought 
it  might  be  a  rat  burrowing  there.  Presently  I 
heard  something  strike  the  earthworks  back  of 
me  and  above  my  head  with  a  dull  thud.  I  looked 
up  and  saw  a  little  fresh  dirt  rolling  down,  and 
it  dawned  on  me  that  they  were  Confederate 
bullets  that  were  playing  around  in  the  brush 
near  where  I  was  sitting,  but  it  never  occurred 
to  me  that  they  might  be  shooting  at  me  —  and 
I  don't  know  that  they  were  —  but  if  they  were, 
they  never  touched  me.  The  wonder  to  me  was, 
where  those  shots  came  from ;  I  could  not  see 
any  firing  from  the  enemy's  line,  but  down  in 
the  valley,  about  halfway  between  our  lines  and 
the  enemy's  line,  nestling  among  a  bunch  of 
trees,  was  a  large,  square,  brick  farmhouse,  with 
a  hip-roof  and  a  cupola  on  top  of  it  —  a  style  of 
architecture  a  good  deal  in  vogue  in  those  days 

60 


Abraham  Lincoln 

—  and  the  shots  seemed  to  come  from  that  di- 
rection. It  turned  out  that  there  were  some  Con- 
federate sharpshooters  secreted  in  that  house, 
and  from  there  were  firing  at  our  men  in  and 
about  the  Fort  whenever  they  got  sight  of  one. 
They  severely  wounded  an  officer  in  Fort  Ste- 
vens while  standing  near  the  President.  I  was  in 
plain  view,  but  was  so  interested  in  watching  the 
men  forming  in  front,  and  waiting  to  see  what 
would  happen,  that  I  paid  no  more  attention  to 
the  occasional  cracking  in  the  brush.  In  a  little 
while,  however,  a  gun  from  our  Fort  threw  a 
couple  of  shells  into  that  house  and  set  it  on  fire, 
and  we  could  see  the  sharpshooters  running  from 
the  house  and  scampering  back  to  their  lines 
like  scared  mice. 

All  was  quiet  for  a  little  while,  and  I  was  anx- 
iously waiting  to  see  what  was  next  on  the  pro- 
gram. Presently  a  messenger  came  over  from 
Fort  Slocum  on  horseback  at  high  speed,  and  an 
officer  from  Fort  Stevens  stepped  out  to  receive 
his  message ;  and  I  heard  the  messenger  say, "  We 
will  fire  the  signal  gun,  and  when  we  do,  you  let 

61 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

go."  The  messenger  whirled  about  and  went 
back  to  Fort  Slocum.  You  can  imagine  how 
anxiously  I  waited  to  hear  that  signal  gun.  I  did 
not  have  to  wait  long.  In  a  few  minutes  we  heard 
the  boom  of  a  Parrott  gun  over  at  Fort  Slocum, 
and  then  the  big  guns  at  Fort  Stevens  broke  loose, 
one  of  them  only  about  ten  feet  above  my  head, 
and  you  would  think  all  creation  had  let  go ! 
The  earth  trembled ;  little  limbs  from  standing 
trees  in  front  of  the  Fort  rained  down  like  hail, 
and  the  air  was  filled  with  smoke.  At  the  same 
time  that  the  signal  gun  was  fired,  the  men  in  line 
of  battle  in  front  rose  up  and,  with  a  yell,  started 
on  a  run  toward  the  Confederate  lines  and  opened 
fire.  The  Confederates  returned  the  fire,  and  the 
roar  of  cannon  and  noise  of  battle  was  on. 

The  fight  commenced  about  half  past  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  kept  up  until  al- 
most sundown.  As  a  battle  scene  it  was  an  inter- 
esting sight.  The  strength  of  the  Sixth  Army 
Corps  was  not  sufficient  to  attack  and  rout  the 
Confederates,  and  the  only  thing  it  could  do  was 
to  fight  under  cover  of  the  guns  at  the  forts ;  con- 

62 


Abraham  Lincoln 

sequently,  after  the  battle  began,  its  line  of  bat- 
tle settled  down  immediately  in  front  of  the  forts 
and  along  the  base  of  the  ridge  on  which  the  forts 
were  located;  while  the  Confederates  had  their 
firing  line  along  the  edge  of  the  timber  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  valley,  and  in  that  position 
kept  up  a  steady  fire  for  over  two  hours.  From 
where  I  sat  I  could  see  two  distinct  lines  of  smoke 
from  the  two  firing  lines.  While  this  firing  from 
the  infantry  was  going  on,  the  guns  at  the  forts 
engaged  in  a  little  target  practice  by  throwing 
shells,  not  so  frequently  as  to  keep  the  air  so  filled 
with  smoke  that  they  could  not  see  where  they 
were  shooting,  and  yet,  by  the  different  forts 
along  the  line  firing  alternately,  the  cannonad- 
ing was  kept  up  pretty  steadily. 

Looking  toward  FortSlocum  on  the  east  from 
where  I  sat,  and  by  keeping  my  eye  in  that  direc- 
tion, at  times  I  could  see  the  sparks  fly  from  the 
fuse  of  the  shells  thrown  from  that  Fort  as  they 
went  on  their  rainbow  course  toward  the  mark 
of  the  gunner's  aim.  One  shell  especially  seemed 
to  find  its  mark  with  great  accuracy.   From  our 

63 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

Fort  we  could  see  a  little  knot  of  Johnnies,  which 
seemed  to  be  about  the  size  of  a  Corporal's  Guard, 
in  the  middle  of  the  roadway  that  crossed  the  val- 
ley from  south  to  north  passing  out  over  the  hill 
occupied  by  the  Confederates.  I  could  not  see 
with  the  naked  eye  what  they  were  doing  there, 
and  I  never  learned  as  to  that,  but  one  of  the  gun- 
ners at  Fort  Slocum  took  them  as  his  target,  and 
threw  a  shell  at  them,  and  it  appeared  to  drop 
down  and  explode  in  the  midst  of  that  squad.  It 
was  a  good  shot.  The  men  and  officers  at  Fort 
Stevens  were  evidently  watching  it,  and,  when 
they  saw  the  shell  from  the  other  fort  hit  the 
mark,  they  sent  up  a  shout.  When  the  smoke  of 
the  exploded  shell  cleared  away,  we  saw  no  more 
Johnnies  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  That  shell 
cleared  the  way.  Beyond  that  I  never  heard  what 
happened.  I  knew  this  much,  however,  that,  as 
a  choice  of  locations,  I  would  very  much  prefer 
to  be  where  I  was  than  to  have  been  where  they 
were. 

As  the  sun  was  sinking  in  the  west,  the  Con- 
federates ceased  firing  and  beat  a  retreat.  Our 

64 


Abraham  Lincoln 

bugle  sounded,  which  meant  that  the  President 
was  ready  to  return  to  the  city. 

As  compared  with  the  great  battles  of  the 
War,  the  battle  of  Fort  Stevens  was  a  small  affair, 
but  it  was  a  very  important  one,  as  it  doubtless 
saved  the  city  of  Washington  from  a  dangerous 
attack.  We  lost  quite  a  number  of  men  in  that 
engagement,  and  a  little  spot  on  that  field  on 
which  those  men  lost  their  lives  was,  by  Act  of 
Congress,  made  a  little  National  Cemetery ;  and 
there  the  men  who  had  the  honor  to  die  that 
day  under  the  eye  of  their  Chief  Executive  lie 
buried. 


VI 
Second  Inaugural  Address 


VI 
Second  Inaugural  Address 

THE  morning  of  the  day  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
second  inauguration  was  dark  and  drizzly, 
but  a  few  moments  before  he  was  to  deliver  his 
address,  the  mist  and  the  clouds  cleared  away, 
and  the  sun  shone  out  bright  and  warm.  The 
atmosphere  seemed  unusually  clear.  Thousands 
of  people  had  gathered  in  front  of  the  large  plat- 
form erected  for  the  occasion  at  the  east  front 
of  the  Capitol  to  hear  the  President  speak.  It 
was  my  privilege  to  sit  on  my  horse  only  a  few 
yards  from  President  Lincoln  when  he  delivered 
his  famous  address. 

The  dark  and  doubtful  periods  of  the  War  had 
passed,  and  the  President  had  gained  the  perfect 
confidence  of  all  loyal  people,  North  and  South. 
They  had  come  to  recognize  the  justice  and  wis- 
dom of  many  of  his  acts  for  which  he  had  been 
severely  criticized.  The  prejudice  which  had  ex- 
isted in  the  minds  of  many,  against  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  slaves  during  the  early  part  of  the 

69 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

War,  had  passed  away,  the  people  had  settled 
down  to  the  conviction  that  the  War  was  a  fight 
to  the  finish,  and  they  were  ready  to  stand  by  the 
President  to  the  end.  They  anticipated  that  the 
President  would  voice  this  sentiment  in  his  in- 
augural address,  and  they  were  eagerly  waiting 
to  hear  this  expression  of  his  purpose.  They  were 
not  disappointed. 

At  the  appointed  hour  the  President,  accom- 
panied by  Chief  Justice  Chase  and  a  large  com- 
mittee of  dignitaries,  came  down  the  Capitol 
steps  to  the  speaker's  stand.  After  the  thunder- 
ous applause  that  greeted  his  appearance  had 
subsided  to  almost  breathless  silence,  the  Presi- 
dent began  his  short  and  incisive  address.  His 
strong,  tenor  voice  rang  over  that  vast  assem- 
blage, so  clear  that  he  could  be  distinctly  heard 
to  the  outer  limits  of  the  crowd.  They  seemed  to 
hang  on  his  words  as  though  they  were  meat  and 
drink,  and  in  a  large  national  sense  they  were. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  profound  impression 
made  by  that  part  of  his  address  wherein  he  re- 
ferred to  the  continuation  of  the  War,  in  which 

7° 


Abraham  Lincoln 

he  said,  "  Fondly  do  we  hope  —  fervently  do  we 
pray  —  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may 
speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  con- 
tinue until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bond- 
man's two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited 
toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another 
drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thou- 
sand years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said, '  The  judg- 
ments of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  alto- 
gether/ " 

A  suppressed  feeling  of  supreme  satisfaction 
swept  over  that  vast  audience.  I  could  see  men 
all  around  me  exchanging  side  glances  with  ap- 
proving nods,  and  could  hear  in  suppressed  voices 
such  expressions  as,  "  That's  the  stuff!  That's 
the  stuff!  "  And  when  he  had  concluded  the  last 
paragraph,  beginning,  "With  malice  toward 
none;  with  charity  for  all,"  which  fell  like  a  ben- 
ediction from  heaven,  the  shout  of  the  people 
seemed  to  rise  to  the  very  sky. 

Soon  after  the  President  concluded  his  ad- 
dress, he  entered  his  carriage,  and  the  procession 

71 


Abraham  Lincoln 

started  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  the  White 
House,  the  escort  from  our  Company  follow- 
ing next  to  his  carriage.  Shortly  after  we  turned 
onto  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  west  of  the  Capitol, 
I  noticed  the  crowd  along  the  street  looking  in- 
tently, and  some  were  pointing  to  something  in 
the  heavens  toward  the  south.  I  glanced  up  in 
that  direction,  and  there  in  plain  view,  shining 
out  in  all  her  starlike  beauty,  was  the  planet  Ve- 
nus. It  was  a  little  after  midday  at  the  time  I  saw 
it,  possibly  near  one  o'clock;  the  sun  seemed  to 
be  a  little  west  of  the  meridian,  the  star  a  little 
east.  It  was  a  strange  sight.  I  never  saw  a  star  at 
that  time  in  the  day  before  or  since.  The  super- 
stitious had  many  strange  notions  about  it,  but 
of  course  it  was  simply  owing  to  the  peculiarly 
clear  condition  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  fa- 
vorable position  of  the  planet  at  that  time.  The 
President  and  those  who  were  with  him  in  the 
carriage  noticed  the  star  at  the  same  time. 


VII 

Fall  of  Richmond  and 
Surrender  of  Lee 


VII 

Fall  of  Richmond  and 
Surrender  of  Lee 

THE  rapid  movements  of  our  armies  and 
the  unity  of  their  action  in  the  spring  cam- 
paign of  i  8  6  5  brought  the  War  to  a  speedy  close. 

On  the  fourth  of  April,  just  one  month  from 
the  day  he  delivered  his  famous  inaugural  ad- 
dress, Mr.  Lincoln  had  the  privilege  of  entering 
Richmond,  the  Confederate  capital.  Five  days 
later  Lee  surrendered  to  Grant.  It  was  Sunday; 
the  President  had  just  returned  to  Washington 
from  his  visit  to  the  front,  when  he  received  a 
message  announcing  Lee's  surrender,  but  this 
intelligence  was  not  made  known  to  the  public 
until  the  next  morning. 

A  short  time  before  this  I  had  been  given 
charge  of  a  small  detail  from  our  Company,  and 
was  assigned  to  duty  at  General  Hancock's  head- 
quarters, some  three  or  four  blocks  west  of  the 
War  Department.  Under  a  special  Act  of  Con- 
gress, General  Hancock  was  at  that  time  en- 

75 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

gaged  in  recruiting  and  organizing  what  was 
known  as  the  Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  which  was 
to  be  used  for  the  defense  of  Washington. 

On  Monday  morning,  the  ioth  of  April, 
I  was  standing  in  front  of  Hancock's  headquar- 
ters, and  I  heard  a  band  playing  and  loud  cheer- 
ing down  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  War  De- 
partment. As  I  listened,  the  cheering  became 
louder,  and  it  seemed  to  me  as  though  there  were 
two  or  three  bands  playing  at  once,  and  each  one 
playing  a  different  air.  I  started  down  the  street 
briskly  to  see  what  it  all  meant.  On  the  way  I 
met  an  elderly  man,  and  as  I  came  up  to  him  he 
began  swinging  his  cane  and  shouting,  "  Hurrah 
for  the  Union ! "  I  said,  "So  say  I,  but  what  is  all 
this  racket  about ?"  "Haven't  you  heard  the 
news?"  said  he.  "No,"  said  I,  "nothing  since 
the  fall  of  Richmond."  "Why,"  said  he,  "Lee 
has  surrendered !  The  War  is  over !  The  Union 
is  saved,  and  slavery  has  gone  forever  from  this 
fair  land!" 

It  was  a  spontaneous  outburst  of  eloquence 
from  the  old  patriot,  which  I  enjoyed  very 

76 


Abraham  Lincoln 

much,  and  I  joined  him  in  an  exchange  of  hearty 
congratulations.  He  shook  my  hand  vigorously 
as  he  said,  "You  are  a  stranger  to  me,  but  you 
are  wearing  the  Government  blue,  and  that  is 
enough  for  me," 

With  that  I  hastened  on  down  the  street  to 
participate  in  the  joy  of  the  occasion.  Business 
in  all  the  departments  was  practically  suspended 
for  the  time  being,  and  everybody  was  out  for  a 
good  time.  A  large  crowd  had  congregated  in 
front  of  the  War  Department,  and  Secretaries 
Stanton  and  Seward  and  Vice-President  Andrew 
Johnson  and  other  members  of  the  Cabinet  were 
there  making  little  congratulatory  speeches,  in- 
terspersed with  national  airs  by  the  band.  It  was 
amusing  to  see  those  dignitaries  that  morning; 
they  played  like  boys.  It  was  one  of  those  glo- 
rious occasions  which  in  spirit  puts  everybody 
who  is  of  the  same  mind  on  a  high  level. 

The  crowd  would  call  for  speeches  from  first 
one  and  then  another,  and  everyone  seemed  to 
want  some  one  else  to  talk.  They  were  "in 
honor  preferring  one  another. "  Seward  was  be- 

77 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

ing  loudly  called  for  when  I  got  there,  but  he 
hung  back  and  wanted  Stanton  to  talk ;  but  Stan- 
ton, being  the  larger  and  stronger  man  physi- 
cally, got  behind  Seward,  and  taking  him  by  the 
arms  above  the  elbows,  walked  him  up  to  the 
front  of  the  veranda  and  said  to  him,  "  Now  you 
talk."  Obeying  the  order  of  his  military  supe- 
rior, the  great  Secretary  made  a  little  speech  in 
his  happiest  vein  of  wit  and  humor  applicable  to 
the  occasion. 

Vice-President  Andrew  Johnson  was  called 
for,  and  he  made  one  of  his  characteristic  vin- 
dictive speeches.  Among  other  things  he  said: 
"  I  know  what  I  would  do  with  the  leaders  of  the 
rebel  host,  if  I  were  President;  I  would  arrest 
them  as  traitors,  try  them  as  traitors,  and,  by  the 
Eternal,  I  would  hang  them  as  traitors."  The 
tone  and  temper  of  these  remarks  were  in  marked 
contrast  to  those  uttered  by  President  Lincoln  a 
few  moments  later. 

Some  one  in  the  crowd  shouted,  "Now  for 
the  White  House!"  and,  led  by  the  band,  the 
crowd  made  a  rush  in  that  direction,  and  called 

78 


Abraham  Lincoln 

for  the  President.  He  appeared  at  an  upper  win- 
dow west  of  the  portico.  His  appearance  was  the 
signal  for  wild  and  enthusiastic  cheering  and 
cries  of  "  Speech  !  Speech !  "  He  raised  his  hand 
and  all  became  quiet.  He  said,  "  My  friends,  you 
call  for  a  speech,  but  I  cannot  make  a  speech  at 
this  time;  undue  importance  might  be  given  to 
what  I  would  say.  I  must  take  time  to  think.  If 
you  will  come  here  to-morrow  evening,  I  will 
have  something  to  say  to  you."  With  loud 
cheering  and  waving  of  hats  the  crowd  shouted, 
"  We'll  come !  "  Then  the  President  said,  "  You 
have  a  band  with  you,  and  there  is  one  piece  of 
music  I  have  always  liked,  which  heretofore  it 
has  not  seemed  proper  to  make  use  of  in  the 
North,  but  now,  by  virtue  of  my  prerogative  as 
President  of  the  United  States  and  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  I  declare  it 
contraband  of  war  and  our  lawful  prize ;  I  ask  the 
band  to  play  '  Dixie/  "  Again  the  crowd  went 
wild,  and  the  band  struck  up  "  Dixie"  with  all 
the  wind  power  it  had. 

Meanwhile  the  news  of  Lee's  surrender  had 

79 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

reached  the  line  of  fortifications  forming  the 
defenses  of  Washington,  and  the  big  guns  at  the 
different  forts,  at  Arlington  Heights,  and  at  all 
the  other  heights  surrounding  the  city,  began  to 
boom  in  all  directions.  The  day  was  largely  given 
up  to  music,  marching  processions,  speeches,  and 
the  roar  of  heavy  artillery. 

When  the  crowd  left  the  White  House,  I 
went  back  to  Hancock's  headquarters,  and,  find- 
ing all  business  there  suspended,  I  saddled  my 
mare  and  went  the  rounds  of  the  city  to  witness 
the  people's  joy.  I  knew  I  could  see  more  on 
horseback  than  I  could  on  foot.  It  was  a  great 
day. 

The  next  evening  a  large  crowd  gathered  in 
front  of  the  White  House  to  hear  the  President's 
promised  speech,  and  it  was  my  privilege  to  be 
with  them.  That  evening  he  appeared  at  an  up- 
per window  east  of  the  portico,  a  place  where 
he  had  often  appeared  before  during  the  War 
to  greet  military  organizations  with  words  of 
cheer  when  they  called  at  the  White  House,  as 
they  oftentimes  did  when  passing  through  the 

80 


Abraham  Lincoln 

city  on  their  way  to  the  front.  The  speech  de- 
livered by  the  President  was  read  from  manu- 
script, and  has  become  an  item  of  history.  I  am 
glad  to  know  it  has  been  published  with  other 
choice  bits  of  literature  in  convenient  form  for 
use  in  our  public  schools.  It  was  his  last  public 
utterance,  and  I  prize  it  as  a  priceless  memory 
that  I  heard  it  as  it  fell  from  his  lips.  Though 
only  a  brief  outline  —  merely  suggestive  —  it 
is  especially  valuable  as  an  expression  of  the 
thought  that  was  in  his  mind  at  that  time 
upon  the  great  question  of  reconstruction  of  the 
Southern  State  Governments,  and  the  magnani- 
mous spirit  in  which  he  was  then  considering 
that  question. 


VIII 
Lincoln's  Assassination 


VIII 
Lincoln's  Assassination 

THE  grand  illumination  on  the  night  of  the 
thirteenth  concluded  the  three  or  four  days 
and  nights  of  celebrating  the  great  victory,  and 
everybody  seemed  to  feel  like  taking  a  rest  and 
beginning  to  think  soberly.  I  know  I  did.  I  felt 
that  what  I  wanted  about  that  time  more  than 
anything  else  was  a  good  night's  sleep,  for  the 
past  few  days  and  nights  had  been  noisy  and  al- 
most sleepless  ones. 

The  fourteenth  day  of  April  was  warm,  calm, 
and  beautiful,  an  ideal  spring  day.  All  Nature 
seemed  to  bask  in  the  warm  sunlight  of  assured 
peace,  and  the  general  public  had  settled  down 
to  dream  of  a  glorious  future  for  our  reunited 
country.  But,  oh !  how  suddenly  was  all  that 
joy  and  gladness  changed  to  sorrow  and  sadness. 
That  night  the  great  President,  the  idol  of  every 
loyal  American  heart,  fell  by  the  foul  hand  of  an 
assassin. 

I  and  the  men  who  were  with  me  retired  rea- 

85 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

sonably  early  that  night,  for  we  were  all  tired, 
and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  just  gotten  into  a 
sound  sleep,  when  I  thought  I  heard  some  one 
call  my  namefrom  outside  the  building.  I  turned 
my  head  and  listened,  and  again  I  heard  some 
one  call, "  Sergeant  Stimmel ! "  I  jumped  up  and 
put  my  head  out  of  the  window,  and  asked  what 
was  wanted.  The  man  who  called  said  hastily, 
"  Lincoln  and  Seward  have  been  killed."  Then 
he  turned  and  went  down  the  street  as  fast  as  his 
legs  could  carry  him.  I  recognized  his  voice  and 
knew  it  was  one  of  the  men  from  our  Company. 
If  I  had  been  struck  a  stunning  blow  in  the  face, 
I  could  not  have  been  more  dazed  than  I  was  for 
a  moment  on  receiving  that  announcement. 

The  other  men  were  aroused  somewhat  by 
hearing  me  speak  to  some  one  on  the  outside, 
and  inquired  what  was  the  matter.  I  said,  "  Mc- 
Clellan  says"  (that  was  the  name  of  the  man 
who  brought  the  word)  "  that  Lincoln  and  Sew- 
ard have  been  killed."  I  said,  "Get  up  boys 
quickly,  we  may  be  needed."  Every  one  jumped 
into  his  clothes  and  buckled  on  his  equipment, 

86 


Abraham  Lincoln 

and  down  to  the  stable  we  went  and  saddled  our 
horses,  almost  in  less  time,  it  seemed  to  me,  than 
it  takes  to  tell  it.  As  we  saddled  our  horses  not 
much  was  said  by  any  one ;  it  was  too  horrible  to 
talk  about.  As  we  rode  out  on  the  Avenue,  the 
men  said  to  me,  "  You  lead  off,  and  wherever  you 
go  we  will  follow. "  Our  thought  at  the  first  was 
that  there  was  a  mob  riot  in  the  city,  instigated 
by  a  revengeful  spirit  of  the  enemy,  and  the  an- 
ger of  these  men  was  so  intense  on  hearing  that 
the  President  had  been  killed,  and  thinking  it 
was  the  work  of  a  mob,  it  would  have  been  a  re- 
lief to  them  to  have  had  the  privilege  of  plung- 
ing into  a  fight. 

We  rode  at  full  speed  to  the  White  House, 
but  all  was  quiet  there.  We  then  started  around 
to  our  Company  quarters,  and,  as  we  were  pass- 
ing down  the  Avenue  in  front  of  the  Treasury 
Building,  a  policeman  hailed  us,  who,  knowing 
that  we  belonged  to  the  Presidents  escort,  told  us 
that  the  President  had  been  shot  at  Ford's  Thea- 
ter, and  that  our  Company  had  gone  there.  We 
hastened  to  that  place ;  the  street  was  blocked 

87 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

with  people.  We  found  our  Company,  and,  soon 
after  our  arrival,  we  were  ordered  to  clear  the 
street  for  one  block  in  front  of  the  house  where 
the  President  lay.  The  President  had  been  taken 
to  a  private  dwelling  immediately  across  the 
street  from  the  Theater.  Having  cleared  the 
street,  we  remained  there  on  guard  the  balance 
of  the  night,  admitting  only  those  who  we  knew 
had  to  do  with  the  care  of  the  President. 

It  was  an  awful  night.  To  be  awakened  out 
of  a  sound  sleep  and  be  brought  face  to  face  with 
a  condition  so  shocking  made  it  hard  for  me  to 
realize  that  it  was  so.  All  night  I  rode  slowly  up 
and  down  the  street  in  front  of  that  house.  Some- 
times it  seemed  to  me  like  an  awful  nightmare 
and  that  I  must  be  dreaming.  Sometimes  I  would 
pinch  myself  and  wonder  if  I  was  really  awake 
and  on  duty,  so  hard  was  it  for  me  to  realize  the 
fact  that  President  Lincoln  was  lying  in  that 
house  in  a  dying  condition.  We  were  relieved 
about  seven  o'clock  the  next  morning,  and  it  was 
not  until  after  I  had  had  breakfast  and  taken  a 
sleep,  that  I  was  able  to  fully  realize  the  awful 

88 


Abraham  Lincoln 

fact.  The  President  died  at  7.20  o'clock  that 
morning. 

During  that  day  one  of  my  comrades  —  my 
bunk-mate  —  was  riding  down  street,  and  he  met 
another  cavalryman  from  another  troop,  a  man 
he  did  not  know,  and  the  fellow  was  weeping. 
They  stopped  and  had  a  passing  word  about  the 
sad  event  of  the  night  before,  and,  speaking  of 
the  President's  death,  the  stranger  said  to  my 
comrade,  "  It  probably  means  more  to  me  than 
it  does  to  you ;  he  signed  an  order  that  saved  me 
from  being  shot."  When  we  recount  how  he 
saved  many  from  being  shot,  I  often  think  how 
the  words  that  were  applied  to  our  Saviour  as  he 
hung  upon  the  cross,  might  be  applied  to  Lin- 
coln, though  in  a  different  sense :  "  He  saved 
others;  himself  he  cannot  save." 

I  am  frequently  asked, "  Where  was  Lincoln's 
Bodyguard  the  night  of  his  assassination,  and 
how  did  it  come  that  they  let  him  be  assassi- 
nated ? "  In  reply  to  that  I  have  to  say  that  Pres- 
ident Lincoln  flatly  refused  to  have  a  military 
guard  with  him  when  he  went  to  places  of  enter- 

89 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

tainment  or  to  church  in  the  city.  He  said  that 
when  he  went  to  such  places,  he  wanted  to  go 
as  free  and  unencumbered  as  other  people,  and 
there  was  no  military  guard  with  him  the  night 
of  his  assassination.  The  only  person  that  could 
have  protected  him  at  the  theater  the  night  of 
his  assassination  was  a  civilian  who  was  employed 
at  the  White  House,  known  as  the  carriage  foot- 
man. When  the  President  went  out  with  his  fam- 
ily, and  sometimes  with  invited  guests,  to  places 
of  entertainment,  this  footman  would  go  along 
and  ride  on  the  seat  with  the  driver.  When  they 
reached  their  destination,  he  would  hop  down 
and  render  such  assistance  as  a  handy  man  could. 
The  President  took  him  into  the  theater  with 
him  that  night  and  gave  him  a  chair  at  the  door 
of  the  box  occupied  by  the  President  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln  and  their  guests,  with  instructions  that, 
if  anybody  wished  to  see  the  President  in  any 
emergency,  he  could  send  in  his  card,  and  he 
would  go  out  or  would  have  him  come  in  to  see 
him.  After  the  play  had  proceeded  some  little 
time,  the  man  at  the  door  could  only  see  a  small 

90 


Abraham  Lincoln 

portion  of  the  stage,  and  he  became  anxious  to 
see  more  of  the  play,  and  moved  his  chair  up 
away  from  thedoor,leavingthespace  behind  him 
vacant.  Consequently,  the  assassin  passed  into 
the  President's  box  without  being  observed. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  funeral  I  was 
on  duty  at  General  Hancock's  headquarters,  and 
was  not  with  the  troop  that  accompanied  his 
remains  to  the  Capitol.  I  witnessed  the  cortege 
leave  the  White  House,  but  did  not  go  to  the 
Capitol  to  view  his  remains  as  he  lay  in  state.  I 
think  most  of  the  boys  went,  but  I  told  them  I 
did  not  want  to  see  him  dead ;  I  wanted  to  re- 
member him  as  I  saw  him  the  evening  of  April 
1 1  th,  when  he  made  that  last  public  speech  from 
the  window  of  the  White  House. 


IX 
The  Human  Lincoln 


IX 
The  Human  Lincoln 

I  HAVE  told  you  something  of  the  Lincoln 
I  knew.  I  wish  I  could  bring  before  you  as  I 
see  him  a  tall,  homely,  rugged,  kindly,  lonely 
man.  Often  I  have  seen  him  walking  alone  in 
his  characteristic  manner,  with  his  hands  clasped 
behind  his  back,  his  shoulders  slightly  bent,  and 
on  his  face  a  look  so  sad  that  my  own  eyes  filled 
as  I  looked  at  him.  Often  would  the  words  of 
the  prophet  come  into  my  mind, "  A  man  of  sor- 
rows and  acquainted  with  grief."  At  times  he 
seemed  to  be  weighed  down  with  the  burden 
of  the  Nation.  This  Nation's  burden  was  his  bur- 
den. When  a  battle  was  reported,  even  though 
it  were  a  victory,  the  sorrow  which  attended  it, 
the  widow's  wail  and  the  orphan's  cry,  found  an 
echo  in  his  soul  and  seemed  almost  to  crush  him. 
There  were  those  who,  during  his  administra- 
tion, looked  upon  Mr.  Lincoln's  kind  and  sym- 
pathetic nature  as  a  weakness.  But  Lincoln  was 
no  weakling.  If  Jesus'  weeping  at  the  tomb  of 

95 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

Lazarus,  or  restoring  the  widow's  dead  son  alive 
to  his  mother,  were  evidences  of  weakness  in 
Him,  then  were  Lincoln's  many  acts  of  kind- 
ness and  sympathy  evidence  of  weakness  on  his 
part.  Nay,  verily,  his  acts  of  kindness  were  the 
manifestations  of  his  noble  manhood,  the  evi- 
dence of  his  great  strength  of  character. 

Never  did  I  see  Lincoln  so  full  of  grief  or  of 
his  own  affairs  that  he  was  not  ready  to  sympa- 
thize with  all  who  needed  him,  especially  if  a 
child  called  for  help.  I  think  he  never  passed 
by  a  child  without  a  smile,  and  some  way,  in 
spite  of  sad  eyes  and  heavy  brows,  the  children 
always  took  to  him.  One  morning,  when  the 
President  came  over  from  the  War  Department, 
some  little  school  children  were  playing  on  the 
front  steps  of  the  White  House.  He  stopped 
and  had  a  word  of  pleasantry  with  them,  took 
one  or  two  of  their  books  and  glanced  through 
them,  and  while  he  did  so,  the  children  crowded 
around  him  as  if  he  had  been  their  father. 

The  story  of  the  little  girl  interceding  with 
Lincoln  for  her  brother,  and  the  story  of  the  mo- 

96 


Abraham  Lincoln 

thcr  pleading  with  him  for  her  son,  have  been 
related  many  times.  I  once  spoke  on  Lincoln 
at  Delaware,  Ohio,  at  which  time  I  related  the 
stories  referred  to.  After  the  lecture,  a  middle- 
aged  lady  came  up  to  shake  hands  with  me. 
Her  eyes  were  brimming  with  tears,  as  with 
trembling  lips  she  said, "  He  signed  an  order  that 
saved  my  father  from  being  shot." 

The  President  was  not  a  gloomy  man.  He  was 
always  hopeful,  and  the  wit  and  humor  which 
held  his  audiences  spellbound  in  the  old  days  of 
the  Douglas  debates  stayed  with  him.  He  al- 
ways had  a  story  suited  to  the  occasion,  and  there 
was  not  a  man  in  our  troop  who  did  not  have  a 
hatful  of  anecdotes  to  tell  of  their  great  Com- 
mander. 

There  is  no  instance  on  record  where  Lin- 
coln ever  acted  from  personal  resentment  toward 
any  individual  or  group  who  had  injured  him  or 
offered  him  an  insult  in  his  official  capacity.  He 
was  not  insensible  to  these  insults,  but  he  was 
too  great  to  be  influenced  by  them.  In  matters 
of  State  his  policies  were  often  misunderstood, 

97 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

but  by  his  firm  stand  he  maintained  the  honor 
and  integrity  of  his  Country  and  gained  the  ap- 
plause of  the  civilized  world. 

The  grandest  thing  on  earth  is  a  sublime  hu- 
man character.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  that  type 
of  man.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the  more  hu- 
man we  are,  the  more  divine  we  become.  Lin- 
coln was  divinely  human.  He  was  a  great  patriot 
and  a  wise  statesman;  but  in  his  integrity  of 
character  he  was  greater  than  anything  he  ever 
said  or  did. 

Lincoln  was  not  great  simply  because  he  hap- 
pened to  be  President  of  the  United  States  dur- 
ing the  most  critical  period  of  our  Nation's  his- 
tory, or  because  he  issued  the  Emancipation  Pro- 
clamation that  liberated  four  millions  of  slaves. 
The  Presidency  during  the  Civil  War  was  an  op- 
portunity for  him  to  demonstrate  his  marvelous 
wisdom  and  sagacity  in  statecraft,  but  he  had  all 
the  well-trained  elements  of  greatness  in  him 
before  he  had  the  opportunity.  It  is  an  old  say- 
ing, "  Get  thy  spindle  and  distaffready,  and  God 
will  find  thee  flax."  Lincoln  had  his  spindle  and 

98 


Abraham  Lincoln 

distaff  ready,  and  when  the  opportune  flax  came, 
he  was  ready  to  spin. 

In  early  life  he  had  few  advantages,  but  he 
made  the  most  of  what  he  had.  His  life  was  a 
continual  struggle,  but  he  was  an  overcomer,  and 
it  made  him  a  hero.  He  was  faithful  over  the  few 
things  that  he  had,  and  God  made  him  ruler 
over  many  things.  His  struggles  and  the  use  he 
made  of  the  few  advantages  he  had  developed  in 
him  a  genius  in  the  economy  of  resources;  this 
in  turn  gave  him  intellectual  power  and  made 
him  a  thinker.  By  abstemious  habits  and  per- 
sistent effort  in  study  and  thought,  he  acquired 
great  breadth  of  mental  vision.  His  reading  was 
along  the  line  that  inspired  him  with  patriotic 
ardor  and  high  ideals. 

It  has  been  said  that  Lincoln  was  an  unedu- 
cated man.  He  may  not  have  been  trained  in 
much  of  the  technical  learning  of  the  schools, 
but  in  point  of  mental  development  and  mental 
discipline,  the  chief  aim  and  object  of  education, 
he  was  highly  educated.  A  distinguished  educa- 
tor has  said,  "  A  man  is  educated  when  he  is  mas- 

99 


Personal  Reminiscences  of 

ter  of  himself  and  master  of  his  task."  Lincoln 
was,  in  a  very  marked  degree,  master  of  himself 
and  master  of  his  task.  He  steadfastly  adhered  to 
that  which  he  conceived  to  be  right,  standing 
firmly  by  his  honest  convictions,  and  thus  devel- 
oped great  strength  of  moral  character.  His  high 
regard  for  the  common  rights  of  man  made  him 
humane,  kind,  and  sympathetic.  Thus  in  mat- 
ters needing  sympathy,  he  was  as  kind  and  gen- 
tle as  a  loving  mother,  but  in  matters  of  State, 
where  principles  of  right  were  involved,  he  was 
as  firm  and  immovable  as  the  everlasting  hills. 
His  head  and  heart  were  a  unit. 

We  are  told  that  when  the  great  temple  of 
Minerva  was  erected  at  Athens,  all  sculptors 
were  invited  to  compete  in  a  statue  for  its  dome. 
On  the  day  of  the  award,  a  noted  artist  brought 
a  life-sized  statue  of  Minerva,  so  beautiful  that 
it  was  received  with  loud  acclaim ;  but  as  it  was 
raised  to  its  place,  it  grew  smaller  and  smaller, 
until  it  seemed  a  mere  speck  against  the  sky. 
Then  a  statue,  the  work  of  a  poor  mechanic,  was 
unveiled,  huge  and  rough  hewn;  but  as  it  was 

ioo 


Abraham  Lincoln 

raised  aloft,  its  rugged  features  disappeared  and 
it  became  more  and  more  comely,  until,  reach- 
ing the  pinnacle  of  the  dome,  it  took  the  very 
semblance  of  the  goddess  and  seemed  animate 
with  life. 

So  it  is  with  Lincoln.  It  has  taken  over  fifty 
years  for  us  to  get  far  enough  away  from  the 
rugged  features  of  his  earthly  career  to  enable 
us  to  see  the  beauty  and  majesty  of  his  sublime 
character. 

To  me  it  was  much  to  have  lived  for  nearly 
a  year  and  a  half  in  close  touch  with  a  man  like 
Lincoln.  I  was  barely  twenty-one  when  I  joined 
his  bodyguard,  but  throughout  my  long  life  I 
have  been  deeply  grateful  for  the  providence 
which  gave  me  such  glimpses  of  one  of  Earth's 
grandest  heroes,  one  of  her  noblest  martyrs,  one 
of  the  finest  specimens  of  manhood  which  God, 
the  Creator,  has  ever  produced:  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, Patriot!  Statesman!  Gentleman! 

the  END 


*.  ■   :    ■  ■■■:? 


